About this artwork

This drawing shows a view of the town of Kirkwall in Orkney. It is unclear when it was made, but it is likely to have been when Irvine was a young man. He was from Lerwick in Shetland, but would have passed through Orkney around 1828 on his way south to London. Irvine eventually specialised in portraiture, but he is known to have made landscape views while on his travels through France. This drawing shows his fine attention to detail and his observation of people. The boy fishing of the causeway and the man in the boat reinforce the islanders’ reliance on the sea. St. Magnus Cathedral with its distinctive local red and yellow sandstone can be seen in the background.

John Irvine

John Irvine

Irvine was born in Lerwick in Shetland in June 1805. He lost his father aged only ten, and realised that survival in the world would have to come from his own hard work. He had left Shetland by 1826, arriving at London via Edinburgh. He studied at the Royal Academy…